Selections From News@JAMA and JAMA Forum

After South Africa rolled out large-scale antiretroviral therapy programs for people with HIV infection during the early 2000s, life expectancy in 1 rural community increased sharply.

Researchers analyzed household surveillance surveys collected between 2000 and 2011 in one of the poorest districts in South Africa. Some 29% of adults in the community have HIV infection, and more than half of all deaths there were HIV-related a decade ago. The analysis showed that adult life expectancy was 49.2 years in 2003; by 2011 it increased to 60.5 years. Mortality rates from injuries, noncommunicable diseases, and other causes remained stable during the study period.